God's Politics

Publisher's Summary

Since when did believing in God and having moral values make you pro-war, pro-rich, and solely pro-Republican? And since when did promoting and pursuing a progressive social agenda with a concern for economic security, health care, and educational opportunity mean you had to put faith in God aside?
God's Politics offers a clarion call to make both our religious communities and our government more accountable to key values of the prophetic religious tradition, that is, make them pro-justice, pro-peace, pro-environment, pro-equality, and pro-family (without making scapegoats of single mothers or gays). Our biblical faith and religious traditions simply do not allow us as a nation to continue to ignore the poor and marginalized, deny racial justice, tolerate the ravages of war, or turn away from the human rights of those made in the image of God. These are the values of love and justice, reconciliation, and community that Jesus taught and that are at the core of what many of us believe, Christian or not. Jim Wallis inspires us to hold our political leaders and policies accountable by integrating our deepest moral convictions into our nation's public life.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful

Yes, this book could have been cut down by eliminating much of the repetitve language and examples, but I have also discovered that my children won't listen to me unless I repeat myself over and over.

This book is a scathing indictment of the current political climate. Righties hate this book because it calls them hypocrites for professing God's support but not implementing God's policies. Lefties hate this book because it calls them to task for claiming to support the poor and the working class, but not really doing anything for either, all the while being ashamed of God.

The main premise of this book as I read it is "Don't be ashamed of God, and prove your faith by supporting policies that are in tune with ALL of God's will, not just the ones that you like."

Read it for what it is, the words of a real Christian who is frustrated with the current climate. If you allow yourself to listen to his arguments rather than to have a knee-jerk "hate it" response, you might surprise yourself by changing your mind on a few things.

This book is simply terrible. It is boring, repititous, and poorly reasoned. Though the author, Jim Wallis, decries the partisan lens through which religious right figures approach politics, the DNC could scarcely have written a more partisan screed.

Opposition to the Iraq war serves as the centerpiece of this book. Wallis is a proponent of the view that terrorism should be treated as a law-enforcement problem and as an opportunity to improve US policies by addressing terrorists? grievances. He dances around the question of what to do about sovereign states that harbor terrorism, but makes clear his strong preference for non-violence. His naivety is shocking. Rather than deposing Sadaam by war, he regrets that we did not encourage a campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience within Iraq to topple him.

While Wallis consistently says that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were unjustifiable, he goes on to say that they were made possible by world reaction to American ?crimes? and policies. He is particularly incensed by US support for Israel, saying that the Jewish state?s policies (termed ?state-sponsored terrorism?) are grossly disproportionate to Palestinian actions. His grab bag of complaints spans the usual left-wing gamut, running from the support of right-wing dictators in the cold war to global inequality. Apparently, Al-Qaeda?s strikes are related to Reagan?s support of the contras.

Wallis would dispute it, but I feel this book verges on anti-American. His one-sidedly critique of American policy begs the conclusion that we brought terrorist attacks on. He analogizes the current ?American empire? to the Roman one that persecuted early Christians. And he repeatedly belittles patriotism. American citizenship seems an inconsequential affiliation to him, if not an outright embarrassment. Incredibly, he states that a Christian should care more about non-American Christians opinion than the opinion of fellow Americans.